White Oak, Dixon open with road wins

By Staff Reports

Published: Saturday, August 24, 2013 at 09:15 AM.

White Oak took the lead for good on Harris’ 54-yard run up the middle with 8:20 left in the first quarter and took an 18-7 advantage into the locker room. Red Springs got as close as three points at 24-21 on Greene’s 1-yard plunge with five minutes left in the third quarter and trailed by just four after Jamison Baker’s 45-yard touchdown catch with 5:24 left to play.

Harris would answer Baker’s late score with one of his own to put the game away, scampering 38 yards down the far sideline 16 seconds later to put the game out of reach.

“What else can you can about Elijah?” Ashley said. “It was an awesome performance.”

RED SPRINGS — White Oak racked up nearly 500 yards on the ground and took an 18-7 lead into the halftime break, but the Vikings needed a couple of late touchdowns to take down Red Springs 45-33 on Friday evening in both team’s opener.

White Oak quarterback Elijah Harris rushed for 290 yards and five touchdowns on 31 carries, while Camara Rawls added 149 yards and a pair of scores on 24 carries.

The win marked the first victory on the field for White Oak under coach Chad Ashley. The Vikings went 1-10 last year, the win coming on a forfeit.

“It feels great. It beats the other side,” Ashley said. “I’m more happy for the kids. I’m excited for them because they worked so hard to put themselves in this position tonight.

Blake Greene of Red Springs (0-1) threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-43 passing for the Red Devils.

Red Springs was held to just 23 yards on the ground and played the last three quarters without the services of starting tailback Jedarian Lesane who limped gingerly to the sideline with an injury.

“We’re young. We only had three starters coming back so we knew there were going to be some issues,” Red Springs head coach George Coltharp said. “They are a tough team. We let them get ahead too early.”

White Oak took the lead for good on Harris’ 54-yard run up the middle with 8:20 left in the first quarter and took an 18-7 advantage into the locker room. Red Springs got as close as three points at 24-21 on Greene’s 1-yard plunge with five minutes left in the third quarter and trailed by just four after Jamison Baker’s 45-yard touchdown catch with 5:24 left to play.

Harris would answer Baker’s late score with one of his own to put the game away, scampering 38 yards down the far sideline 16 seconds later to put the game out of reach.

“What else can you can about Elijah?” Ashley said. “It was an awesome performance.”

Malik Simmons rushed for 126 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a win at Spring Creek in both teams’ season opener.

The win gave Iseman a win in his first game as the Bulldogs’ interim coach. Head coach Ray Swaney is in Afghanistan with the Army Reserves.

“This is a great win and I’m happy for the kids,” Iseman said. “Like many first games we have a lot of things to work on. We will just work on all the facets of the game. We are going to get better in all facets from the first week to the second week.”

Simmons scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game in the second quarter. He had a 33-yard scoring run in the third quarter to give Dixon a 24-6 lead.

Tyler Ross opened the second half with a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for the Bulldogs.

“He really grinded it out. There’s no other way to say it,” Iseman said of Simmons. “It didn’t come easy for him, but he kept grinding and it finally broke for him. He was very patient tonight.”

Spring Creek, though, rallied.

Dixon led just 27-22 when SCHS scored with 2:34 left and then attempted an onside kick. The Bulldogs recovered and sealed the win by getting a first down.

“We went on a little run in the second half and then we had a lightning delay for about an hour and a half,” Iseman said. “We were clicking.”

Northside-West Carteret suspended: Northside’s season opener at West Carteret was suspended in the second quarter because of lightning and will resume Monday at 7 p.m. in Morehead City. The game was tied 0-0 at the time of the suspension.